Tuesday, January 14, 2014

For the darling
of awards shows that joins together talents from television and film under one
happy roof, dynamic female duo, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, tried their
darndest to deliver the goods. Before a single syllable was uttered, the pressure
was on to repeat their performance from the previous year as the hostesses with
the most who hit a home run with both the viewing audience, as well as their
peers. So when Fey admitted that in Hollywood when
something “kinda works, you keep doing it till everybody hates it,” we wondered
if this was an ominous premonition. It’s not that anything catastrophic occurred, the evening just felt a bit odd. The constant flowing of Moet & Chandon -
the official champagne of the Globes - may not have done anyone any favors.
Alcohol and public speaking do not mix.

Nevertheless, the girls had
their share of witty one-liners. My personal favorites were the opening line
that poked fun at Lee Daniels calling the telecast the, (“71st Annual Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Lee Daniels’The Butler Golden
Globe Awards”), the dig at George Clooney and his penchant for younger
women (“Gravityis nominated for best film: It’s the story
about how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend
one more minute with a woman his own age.”), and the double standard in
Hollywood when joking about Matthew McConaughey’s weight loss of 45 pounds for
his role inDallas Buyers Club(“what actresses call ‘being in a movie.’”)
Our favorite quote from the evening
though came from Amy Adams on the red carpet. When interviewed for her role in “American
Hustle” as to how she was able to keep her déclotage intact, she replied, “Good posture keeps everything in place.” Great advice, not only for the red carpet,
but for every day.

This year’s show had all of the fanfare and glitz we have
come to expect when you put the hottest stars of the big screen and small in
the same room. The celebs did their best to turn on the charm and donned their finest wears for the camera as they kicked off the height of
awards season. Here is our recap of red
carpet manners highlights and low points from one of Hollywood’s biggest
nights.

What they Wore. Black, red
and green were the chosen colors of this year’s Golden Globes. A-listers Amy
Adams, Lupita Nyong'o, Tina Fey, and Julia
Louis-Dreyfus all looked smashing in cherry red. A laundry list of actresses including Amy
Poehler, Jessica Chastain, Sofia Vergara, JuliannaMargulies, Uma Thurman, HaydenPanettiere, Julia
Roberts, Melissa McCarthy and more opted for an
elegant and sultry black to contrast the red carpet. Other more daring
personalities like Reese Witherspoon, Helen Mirren, Olivia Wilde, and even Matthew McConaugheyselected
rich shades of green and happened to wear them very well - not an easy feat. Lena Dunham would’ve succeeded in her canary
yellow dress if only she added a piece of material to cover the massive tattoo
emblazoned on her right arm. It was distracting
and detracted from the overall splendor of the dress. The men are stepping up to the plate more and
more with each year. A great number were decked out in a traditional Tom Ford tuxedo. Weatherman and song man, Al Roker and Usher, went
rogue wearing burgundy. Beauties Taylor Swift, Sandra Bullock and Julie Bowen
elected a color-blocking pattern while others like Julia Roberts, Jennifer
Lawrence and Zoe Zaldana went with various B&W ensembles.

The
Long Walk. We noticed an
inordinate amount of long painful walks to the stage. Most obvious was Jacqueline Bisset who was clearly stunned by
her win and almost unable to move. Unlike the People’s Choice Awards where stars receive their nods beforehand
and are seated theatre-style near the stage, the Golden Globes ballroom is overflowing
with wall-to-wall tables making it difficult for those placed towards the middle
or back to reach the stage in a timely manner.
The farther away you are located, the more people you feel compelled to
kiss and hug along your way, not to mention managing not to trip on your dress.
The only benefit of the long walk is
that it gives winners an opportunity to compose their thoughts and hopefully recall
who they wish to thank.

Malfunctions & Expletives.
What
we originally thought was a poke at the recent Michael Bay incident at CES
turned out to be a genuine teleprompter malfunction early on in the show. Wolf of Wall Street stars Jonah Hill and
Margot Robbie handled it well however and improvised their speech until they
were handed a yellow piece of paper helping them to recite their category and
the applicable winner. We also noticed an
inordinate amount of swearwords sprinkled throughout the show as celebs seemed
to have forgotten their manners and the fact that they were on live television in
front of millions of people, not just in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton
among their friends. Jacqueline
Bisset,
Elisabeth Moss, Diane Keaton and Aaron Paul all put their hat into that ring.

Beyond
Bizarre Moments.
Jacqueline Bisset’s win will forever be
remembered as one of the most bizarre moments in Golden Globe history. So astonished when her name was called that
she was frozen in time, hardly able to walk or talk pausing for what felt like
an eternity before taking to the mic. Her
speech was a mixed bag of incoherent rambling and frustration especially when
the exit music began. She offered some sage advice from her mother, “Go hell
and don’t come back,” as well as a few words about forgiveness being the best
beauty treatment and then somehow managed to leave the stage. Emma Thompson didn’t
do much better announcing the Best Screenplay award with a Martini in one hand
and her Louboutin’s in the other. Appearing
a bit more sloshed than necessary, she forgot the most important item – the envelope!!
After reciting the list of nominees, she
realized she was missing the envelope containing the winner’s name. Once
received, she tossed her shoes into the air, handed her drink over to Miss Golden
Globe (Sosie Bacon) and then finally announced the lucky recipient. And, we get the profound friendship that exists between Woody Allen and his muse Diane
Keaton, but did that warrant a camp rendition during the Cecil B.
DeMille award? We think not. It was very strange and reminded us of fellow actress Meryl Streep when she sang at the
end of Postcards From the Edge.

Effervescent & Expecting.
Expecting mommies, Kerry Washington, Olivia Wilde and Drew Barrymore all
beamed from ear-to-ear providing a much needed distraction from all of the craziness onstage. Experiencing a banner year and eager to share her
happy news was a smiley Kerry Washington who couldn’t contain her excitement confiding that her belly was her best date ever. First time pregnant stunner, Olivia
Wilde, also prominently displayed her baby bump in a tight sequined Gucci
number. And of course, the perpetually positive,
Drew
Barrymore, proudly flaunted her rather large tummy in a flower dress that was
completely suited to her bubbly personality.

Forget
Photobombing, What about Micbombing?
What is it about P. Diddy and Kayne West that they can’t contain
themselves around a mic? Sean “Diddy”
Combs turned his formal presenting gig into a casual affair interrupting
musician Alex Ebert as well as band U2’s speeches to interject some nonsensical
information that was best kept between friends.
Did we really need to know that he was on a boat partying in St. Bart’s
with the winner recently? An emphatic
NO!

Best
Acceptance Speech.
In a sea of poor acceptance speeches - some riddled with expletives - the ever
polite Texan, Matthew
McConaughey, gets our vote for the most humble and gracious at this year’s awards ceremony. From
his respectful praise towards the other gentlemen in his category addressing
them as Mr. Hanks, Mr. Redford, etc., to his perserverence as he
shared how his film was turned down 96 times before receiving the green light,
he also thoughtfully thanked everyone in his life including his wife and
children reserving a special thanks for his mother for encouraging him to do things for himself. The speech ended on an uplifting note claiming
that his movie, The Dallas Buyers Club “was never about dying” and with that he
reminded everyone to “just keep… (livin).” Inspiring words to live by.